Baxter International Inc. $BAX Stock: Sowell Financial Services LLC Decreases Holdings

Sowell Financial Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) by 71.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,703 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 31,695 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Baxter International were worth $305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Baxter International during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,392,098,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Baxter International in the second quarter valued at about $30,604,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Baxter International in the second quarter valued at about $1,744,874,000. AMG National Trust Bank acquired a new position in Baxter International in the second quarter worth about $2,522,000. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Baxter International in the second quarter worth about $51,958,000. Institutional investors own 90.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BAX. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Baxter International from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Baxter International from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Baxter International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 10th. Zacks Research raised Baxter International from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Baxter International in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Baxter International presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $21.73.

Baxter International Price Performance

BAX opened at $25.30 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.08 billion, a PE ratio of -12.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.65. Baxter International Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.73 and a 52 week high of $30.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.19. Baxter International had a positive return on equity of 16.57% and a negative net margin of 9.27%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Baxter International has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.950-2.150 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Baxter International Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Baxter International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 28th were paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 28th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Baxter International’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1.93%.

Baxter International Company Profile

Baxter International Inc is a global medical products and healthcare technology company headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. The company develops, manufactures and distributes products used in hospitals, clinics, ambulatory care centers and other healthcare settings.

Baxter’s portfolio has included intravenous therapies and administration systems, infusion pumps, connected-care technologies, surgical products, patient monitoring equipment and products used in medication preparation and delivery.